A refugee from West Africa who settled in Wales 10 years ago is accusing Virgin Atlantic of racial discrimination after his application for a call centre job was rejected.

A refugee from West Africa who settled in Wales 10 years ago is accusing Virgin Atlantic of racial discrimination after his application for a call centre job was rejected.

When Max Kpakio applied in his own name for the job in Swansea he was turned down, but when he submitted a new application under the made-up name Craig Owen he was repeatedly invited to attend an interview.

Mr Kpakio, 36, arrived in Wales in 2002 after escaping from the civil war in his country of origin Liberia. He is separated from his wife, but has three children who were born in Wales and was granted British citizenship in 2007.

He said: “Virgin Atlantic recently opened a call centre opposite Swansea railway station. A friend told me they were taking on staff and I went along to a presentation in their offices.

“At the presentation it was made clear that the people taken on did not need any qualifications, and that training would be provided.

“I’d offered advice to clients over the telephone before, so I believed I was a very good candidate for the job. When I was sent a rejection, I couldn’t understand it – I thought I had provided a very good CV.”

In his CV, Mr Kpakio outlined how he had been awarded a BA in international relations by Swansea University in 2008, with his final year dissertation being on the political transformation in South Africa since the end of the apartheid regime.

He also described paid and voluntary work he had carried out in Swansea with several organisations, including spells that involved offering advice over the telephone to clients.

In response, Mr Kpakio received an e-mail which said: “Your application has now been screened and I am sorry too tell you that unfortunately your application has not reached the next stage of the recruitment process.

“Due to the high volume of applications we receive, we are unable to offer individual feedback, but should you wish to re-apply for this position, we ask that you wait at least six months.”

Mr Kpakio said: “I thought this was very strange. I was the only person from an ethnic minority in the group which heard the presentation and it occurred to me that my ethnic origin may have something to do with the rejection.

“I then decided to make a further application to Virgin, using the name Craig Owen.”

This time, the CV he sent was much shorter. “Craig Owen” claimed to have a politics degree from Swansea University and to have worked for Tesco Express as a sales assistant, for Asda as a checkout assistant and for ABL as a customer service adviser.

“Craig Owen” received a response from Virgin inviting him to interview, but Mr Kpakio did not respond.

He said: “They were in touch with me seven or eight times, and kept coming back to me when I didn’t respond.”

One of the e-mails from Virgin, dated November 8 2012, stated: “Thank you for your recent application for the above vacancy. We recently contacted you to attend an interview and have not yet received confirmation of when you are able to attend.”

The e-mail said the company looked forward to meeting Mr Owen and asked him to log on to its website, concluding: “Should you have any special needs or requirements with regards to the arrangements for the interview, please highlight this to us as soon as possible.”

Mr Kpakio said: “There was an enormous difference in the way I was treated when I used a British name.

“I have made an application to the employment tribunal alleging racial discrimination.”

A spokeswoman for Virgin Atlantic said: “Virgin Atlantic is an equal opportunities employer and prides itself on providing opportunities to talented people regardless of their race, sex, age or other characteristic. We take allegations of discrimination extremely seriously and whilst we do not comment on individual cases; we strongly deny any of our recruitment decisions or practices are discriminatory in any way”.

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